• 50 words
  • Checked October 2026

4th Grade Spelling Bee Words

Press Start round to hear ten grade 4 bee words, each in a sentence, starting with silent first letters.

Edit this list or use your own words

The 10 words of this list. Add or change any. For your own list, press Clear first.

For a sentence, put it after a colon: rain: The rain fell all day. Up to 40 words.

Sheet to show and print

Warm-up: silent first letters (kneecap)

Words to learn. Read each word, cover it, write it, then check it.

  1. 1.kneecapThe kneecap is a small bone in the knee.
  2. 2.knotholeA squirrel peeked out of the knothole.
  3. 3.knighthoodThe squire hoped to earn his knighthood.
  4. 4.wriggleWorms wriggle across the wet sidewalk.
  5. 5.wreckageWreckage from the storm covered the beach.
  6. 6.wrangleRanch hands wrangle the cattle each spring.
  7. 7.wretchedWe felt wretched after the long, wet hike.
  8. 8.gnarledThe gnarled old oak had twisted branches.
  9. 9.honestyTelling the truth takes honesty.
  10. 10.hourglassSand runs through an hourglass to mark time.

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Make a word search

Each word is read aloud, then used in a sentence. Type what you hear. The marks come at the end.

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Reading speed

Accents do not count: café may be typed as cafe, and the marks show how it is written.

Only voices built into this device are used, so the words are not sent to a speech service to be read. With no voice, a person reads the words from the last page of the test sheet.

Review test from several lists
Tick the lists to draw 10 words from

The words are mixed from the lists you tick, so a review test needs a read-aloud voice.

Next step Easier rounds: the grade 3 beePick the next speller at random

All 50 words

Warm-up: silent first letters (kneecap) 10

  • gnarled The gnarled old oak had twisted branches.
  • honesty Telling the truth takes honesty.
  • hourglass Sand runs through an hourglass to mark time.
  • kneecap The kneecap is a small bone in the knee.
  • knighthood The squire hoped to earn his knighthood.
  • knothole A squirrel peeked out of the knothole.
  • wrangle Ranch hands wrangle the cattle each spring.
  • wreckage Wreckage from the storm covered the beach.
  • wretched We felt wretched after the long, wet hike.
  • wriggle Worms wriggle across the wet sidewalk.

Round 2: ph and gh say f (pheasant) 10

  • asphalt Rain made the asphalt shine.
  • emphasis The coach put emphasis on teamwork.
  • homophone Each homophone in the pair has its own spelling.
  • laughable His excuse was so weak it was laughable.
  • pheasant A pheasant is a bird with a long tail.
  • phonograph A phonograph plays sound from a grooved disk.
  • photocopy Please make a photocopy of this page.
  • physics In physics class we timed a rolling ball.
  • toughen Bare feet toughen over a long summer.
  • triumphant She gave a triumphant shout at the finish line.

Round 3: weather and land (downpour) 10

  • cavern Bats slept on the roof of the cavern.
  • downpour The downpour flooded the street in minutes.
  • flurry A flurry of snow dusted the cars.
  • foothill Our cabin sits on a foothill below the peaks.
  • iceberg Most of an iceberg floats below the water.
  • landslide A landslide blocked the mountain road.
  • overcast An overcast morning hid the sunrise.
  • ravine A rope bridge crossed the ravine.
  • sweltering We sat in the shade on a sweltering afternoon.
  • whirlwind A whirlwind spun leaves across the yard.

Round 4: music and art (composer) 10

  • acrylic She painted the sign with acrylic paint.
  • bagpipe The bagpipe played as the parade began.
  • composer The composer wrote a march for the band.
  • mural The class painted a mural on the wall.
  • octave An octave spans eight notes of a scale.
  • pottery We shaped wet clay into pottery.
  • recital She played two songs at the piano recital.
  • soloist The soloist stood up to sing alone.
  • studio The potter rents a studio downtown.
  • tapestry The tapestry shows a hunt in the forest.

Final round: borrowed words (fiesta) 10

  • burrito A burrito is a filled, rolled tortilla.
  • chef The chef wore a tall white hat.
  • cockatoo The cockatoo raised the crest on its head.
  • fiesta The town held a fiesta with music and dancing.
  • garage We keep our bikes in the garage.
  • hammock The hammock swung between two trees.
  • maraca Shake a maraca and it rattles.
  • mustang Wild mustang herds roam the western plains.
  • ninja The story is about a ninja in old Japan.
  • sombrero He hung his sombrero on a peg.

How it works

These 50 words go in 5 rounds of 10: silent first letters, ph and gh that say f, weather and landforms, music and art, and a final round of borrowed words. None is on our grade 4 lists; the grade is our suggestion.

Read the full guide

What each round tests

The warm-up starts with a letter you cannot hear: k in kneecap, w in wriggle, g in gnarled, h in honesty. Round 2 spells f as ph (pheasant, asphalt) or gh (toughen, laughable). Rounds 3 and 4 are class words, from downpour and ravine to octave and tapestry. The final round is borrowed: fiesta and burrito from Spanish, garage and chef from French, ninja from Japanese.

On a screen or out loud

Pick a round and press Start round: the device says the word, a sentence and the word again, the speller types, and marks come at the end. For a bee spoken aloud, choose Word list and press Print for the reader's copy.

  • In Round 2 only toughen and laughable use gh; the other eight spell f as ph.
  • Cockatoo came through Dutch from Malay, and maraca from Portuguese.

Questions and answers

What words are in a 4th grade spelling bee?

That depends on the bee: each contest sets its own list. These 50 are our own practice words for the grade, from kneecap and wriggle to tapestry and cockatoo, and no contest's list was opened. Edit this list swaps in your school's words.

Are these harder than the 4th grade spelling lists?

Mostly, yes. Our grade 4 lists teach prefixes and suffixes; these are longer one-off words such as knighthood, triumphant and sweltering, and none of the 50 is on those lists.

Why are knuckle, dolphin and hurricane missing?

They are on another list of this site already, and a bee page here repeats no word. Kayak, ukulele and siphon are out because a second spelling is in use, so a right answer could be marked wrong.

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